What if Don Bluth stayed at Disney?/Thumbelina
Thumbelina is a 1994 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures and directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, based on the fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen and starring the voices of Jodi Benson, Gary Imhoff and Joe Lynch, with supporting roles from Gino Conforti, Gilbert Gottfried, Carol Channing and John Hurt. TBD The film was released on March 30, 1994 in United States and July 29, 1994 in United Kingdom. It was a critical and commercial success. Plot The film opens with a friendly swallow named Jacquimo entering Paris, introducing himself to the viewers and then entering Notre Dame where he shows them storybooks about "people with impossible problems" such as Samson and Delilah and Romeo and Juliet before the film zooms onto the storybook entitled "Thumbelina", which opens itself to present illustrations of what will happen. A lonely woman longs for a child of her very own. One day, a good witch gives her a barley corn to plant, and the next day the flower blooms, revealing a beautiful young girl "no bigger than her thumb." The woman names her Thumbelina. Thumbelina spends time with her mother's farm animals, but is worried that there is no one around of her own size ("Thumbelina"). One night, her mother tells her a story about fairies. After being put to bed, Thumbelina imagines that someday she will be able to find someone to love ("Soon"). As she is humming to herself, Prince Cornelius of the Fairies flies by her windowsill and is enchanted by her. The two take a ride on Cornelius' bumblebee, during which they fall in love ("Let Me Be Your Wings"). During this ride, a toad named Grundel sees Thumbelina and declares to his lovely mother Mrs. Toad that he loves her. Cornelius returns Thumbelina to her windowsill and promises to come back for her the next day. After he leaves, Thumbelina goes to sleep in her walnut bed, and is kidnapped by Grundel's brothers Mozo and Gringo. When Thumbelina awakes the next morning, she is on a lily-pad far away from home. Mrs. Toad declares that Thumbelina will join their family singing troupe "Singers de Espana" (counting Grundel's brothers, Mozo and Gringo) and that Thumbelina will also marry Grundel ("On the Road"). The group leaves her alone on the lily-pad to fetch the priest, despite her protests. Thumbelina's cries for help are heard by Jacquimo, who helps her free of the lily-pad and encourages her to follow her heart and find her way home to her mother ("Follow Your Heart"). Jacquimo himself promises to find Cornelius, who lives in the Vale of the Fairies. Meanwhile, Cornelius has learned of Thumbelina's kidnapping and goes searching for her. Thumbelina almost reaches home, but she is stopped by a singer beetle named Berkeley Beetle, who wants her to join his act at the Beetle Ball. Thumbelina is forced to perform at the Beetle Ball, but at the end is kicked out for being "too ugly" (as those beetles only like the appearances of beetles). ("You're Beautiful, Baby") Grundel is told by Mozo and Gringo that Thumbelina had escaped to find Cornelius, and he ventures out to find her, tracks down Beetle and forces him, by taking his wings, to help find Thumbelina. Searching for the Vale of the Fairies, Jacquimo seeks help from a fleeing rabbit and its pursuer, a fox. The fox angrily shoves him out of the way and a strong gust of wind blows the swallow into a tree, driving a thorn through his wing. When the cold winter frost arrives, he becomes too weak to fly to the point that he loses consciousness and falls to the ground. The falling snow also causes Cornelius to fall from his bumblebee into a pond, where he is frozen in ice. Beetle finds Cornelius and cuts out a block of ice in which the Fairy Prince is trapped to bring to Grundel. Elsewhere, Thumbelina's mother can only wait at home and hope for the best ("Soon (Reprise)"). With both Cornelius and Jacquimo incapacitated, Thumbelina takes shelter from the winter frost in a shoe. She is rescued by Ms. Fieldmouse who tells her about Cornelius' fate. She convinces a heartbroken Thumbelina to join her to visit Mr. Mole, where Thumbelina is told to sing for him. They take a walk in Mr. Mole's extensive tunnels, where Thumbelina discovers the unconscious Jacquimo. Mr. Mole tells Ms. Fieldmouse that he would like to marry Thumbelina, and bribes her to convince Thumbelina that it would be for the best ("Marry the Mole"). Grundel learns that Thumbelina is to marry Mr. Mole and abandons the frozen Cornelius with Beetle, allowing three young jitterbug children that Thumbelina befriended to light a fire to melt the ice that has trapped Cornelius. Thumbelina sneaks out of Ms. Fieldmouse's home to visit Jacquimo. He wakes, and Thumbelina removes the thorn from his wing. Before she can explain that Cornelius is "dead", Jacquimo flies off, still determined to find the Vale of the Fairies. When Thumbelina is prompted by the minister at the wedding ceremony, she sees various visions about Cornelius, and responds that she cannot marry Mr. Mole, eventually leading into a chase by Beetle, Grundel and the others. However, Cornelius and the jitterbug children arrive to stop them and Cornelius engages Grundel. Despite his efforts in stalling the crowd long enough to secure Thumbelina's escape, the battle eventually culminates in both he and Grundel falling into a bottomless pit. Thumbelina manages to scare her pursuers by causing a mountain of jewelry to slide toward them, and she escapes to the surface, where she is found by Jacquimo, who says that he has found the Vale of the Fairies. They fly there, but it is frozen and Thumbelina doesn't believe it is the Vale, but after she sings ("Let Me Be Your Wings (Reprise)"), the ice thaws and Cornelius, who survived the fall and is still with the jitterbug children, appears to Thumbelina's susprise. Cornelius proposes, Thumbelina accepts, the pair kiss and wings sprout from Thumbelina's back. With Jacquimo, Thumbelina's mother and the fairy court in attendance, Thumbelina and Cornelius are married and depart on Cornelius' bumblebee. Images shown during the credits reveal that Beetle resumed his singing career and apparently grew new wings; Miss Fieldmouse married Mr. Mole; Grundel survived the fall with minor injuries and fell in love with a female toad; and the rabbit and the fox settled their differences and found friendship. Voice cast * Jodi Benson as Thumbelina * Gary Imhoff as Prince Cornelius * Joe Lynch as Grundel Toad * Gino Conforti as Jacquimo * Gilbert Gottfried as Berkeley Beetle * Carol Channing as Ms. Fieldmouse * John Hurt as Mr. Mole * Barbara Cook as Thumbelina's Mother * Charo as Mrs. Toad * Kenneth Mars as King Colbert * June Foray as Queen Tabitha * Will Ryan as Hero, Reverend Rat * Danny Mann as Mozo * Loren Lester as Gringo * Pat Musick as Mrs. Rabbit * Neil Ross as Mr. Bear, Mr. Fox * Tawny Sunshine Glover as Gnatty, one of the jitterbugs. * Michael Nunes as Li'l Bee, one of the jitterbugs. * Kendall Cunningham as Baby Bug, one of the jitterbugs Production Music Release Reception Box office Critical reception Home media releases